that. was. the withdrawal of more than thirty thousand troops from afghanistan is one of the main pledges in barack obama's state of the union address examines the foreign policy areas the president's wasn't going to talk about. audits is broken as israeli media and the shroud of secrecy over the death of an alleged secret agent in custody despite the government trying to keep it quiet. an unemployed frenchman commits suicide by setting himself on fire from the job center desperate move seemingly highlighting the economic problems crippling the euro zone.

around the world and around the clock this is our. president barack obama used the first state of the union address of his second term to try to appease lawmakers and taxpayers making fresh promises to boost the economy and its national debt on foreign policy the us president also announced that thirty four thousand troops will leave afghanistan by next february and he sanaa way looks at what he did and didn't say. after over a decade of war troops are coming home in twenty fourteen as obama put it obama points out that there are two missions now one to prepare handing afghan forces take over so that the country does not slip into chaos again the key word here again it almost seems as if it's now a stable place just today reports of ten civilians killed by

a nato strike targeting taliban insurgents now obama spent most of his speech talking about the economy and taxes he failed to mention that so far the u.s. has invested over one hundred billion dollars in reconstruction of afghanistan and that this year alone it's expected another thirty billion dollars could be spent in eight this as the afghan state is rated one of the most corrupt in the world despite red flags from a watchdog monitory bad aid they say there's no way of ensuring all this money is going to the right place or whose hands the cash is falling into and that it's too dangerous in many places in afghanistan to safely observe what's happening well former and. some have become very rich including western officials well most afghans have been left with nothing many countries thrive on this war they make money there in their un people are others who are lined up and making fat salaries

and while the life of afghan ordinary afghans have not changed of course we have had some things like media like communication and this and that but. in relation to what was available and what could have been done it's a drop in the bucket now obama also spoke of defending democracy across the globe most notably the arab spring which is previously been held by his administration a great success especially libya egypt and tunisia those countries of course now still drowning in chaos and violence two years on well. bomber has changed his tune a bit now saying well it's going to be messy those transitions also his tone on syria a bit distant considering a year ago the u.s. was insisting president off to moscow a lot of speculation about intervention was going on now the president saying they will continue to put pressure on the syrian leader another pledge from obama to

continue to push for legal and durable policy on counterterrorism no mention here of guantanamo drones or wiretapping and obama mentioned internet freedoms well sort of he flaunted signing an executive order on cyber defense but the order is really seen as a response to congress's refusal to pass the cyber intelligence sharing and protection act or says last year in light of serious privacy concerns in other words a loophole is now available for sis to effectively be put into action. well barack obama cited the growing threats from cyber attacks but laws that carry the u.k. pirate party leader says that the us president signing executive order on cyber security in order to prevent it from being stopped by both the senate and the american people would find the security it's about securing systems and technology not securing access to the private information of citizens all. about pushing

towards actually information sharing and that it's the can really the concern that civil liberties groups have basically ordinary ordinary policing is actually a bit ludicrous to address this arc and it's a language. that are essentially by signing an executive order this is bypassing congress but also move bypassing public debate on this important issue we've seen time and time again legislation brought in in the name of national security and to be or to be used more lightly and actually harassing all three citizens not just for us this is a concern to all of us around the world are sort of come of the program a gamble for africa the u.n. human rights chief says this is a waste in mali is swiftly deteriorating or in french intervention short as we examine the violence that's plaguing the west african nation.

of a in of silence so the death of a top secret prisoner has been lifted by the israeli media which had been gagged by a court order it surfaced to following a report in the australian press about a man linked to the israeli secret service who hanged himself in prison after months of being held in secret what is porous there has details. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu summoned the editors of all the major israeli news outlets to an emergency meeting and in that meeting he asked them not to publish the story saying and i'm quoting that it would be embarrassing to a certain government agency not at first the editors did listen and all references to the original australian report were removed from israeli news websites but later it was brought back not only to the web sites but also to all the radio and t.v. stations here and certainly sincerely also this morning it has been the headline news everyone though is referencing it as a report from australia not what we understand is that israeli parliament terence

did oss the justice minister to confirm whether or not this report was true they also demanded to know if there were other prisoners who were being held in secret in israeli jails the justice minister's comments were and i'm quoting that there is no doubt that if this information is accurate this is something that needs to be checked state since it gave news outlets in israel the green light to report on this parliamentary debate but nothing else but of course we were witnessing now that the reporting has gone much further than just this debate such a gag order it is important to say is highly unusual in israel ways states military sense is normally an hour of the local media to quote selling services on controversial topics such as the alleged israeli strike in syria last month what we also understand is that various human rights groups such as human rights watch as well as the israeli civil rights movement have been aware of this particular incident for quite some time now the australian media is reporting that this man

came to live in israel when he was a youngster he made what is called idea and he was recruiting on the stand by the messiah the israeli secret service something went wrong and we've been given no reason for him being imprisoned but they respect the nation that it would have had to be connected somehow with espionage and sensitive state secrets the. former foreign minister avigdor lieberman has said that left wing parliamentarians have damaged israeli security by bringing this issue to the fore in the first place. plenty of questions remain after that israeli spy secret was revealed economist and senior correspondent for israel's hurts a newspaper. says the entire situation is a source of embarrassment for the country on one level it's an espionage story and mystery regarding the foreign intelligence service mossad and the tragic. circumstances under which one of its operatives apparently found his death on

another level. government versus press story and the press here has been struggling against various government agencies and gradually has been able to leave at least some of the secrecy surrounding this story there was a gag order here apparently and if this was the case and one cannot confirm it independently from israel but again embarrassing as it is one has to rely on foreign sources if that is true and a gag order was signed by a judge then one would have been subject to prosecution if one were to violate it so apparently even though these really press is far from being lazy for the last two years it has waited passively for someone abroad in this case

australia to break the story. jobless a man has died after setting himself on fire in front of an employment center in the french city of no and the forty three year old self in discovering he was ineligible for unemployment benefits the last time it happened in france was in august when a man died after burning themselves in paris autistics are syria has more. it reports that he had actually set a letter to some journalists saying that he was going to do this this week so the police had said that they had set of surveillance outside that employment agency but they didn't manage to see him he was already and far they said he had entered through a side street and therefore this tragedy had happened of the man did this after finding out that he he is no longer eligible for those unemployment benefits and this is not the first time it has happened in france in august we know that a fifty year old jobless man had done the same and this is a worrying sign for france for a country that has seen its unemployment rising for the past twenty months and this

after a president had been elected on a campaign of jobs and growth so we haven't seen any improvements on this monster a lot has declared twenty thirteen as a battle for jobs he said that by the end of the year there would be he would be creating jobs for the french people however statistics show that by midyear the number is set to rise and let's not forget that more than three million french people this number does not include people who have quit the unemployment program because they simply have exhausted all their benefits similar to the case of the man who had just burned to myself and also those young people who had never registered or those who are in part time jobs if we look at the trend we've seen a lot of suicides and attempted suicides in countries like greece one of the hardest hit euro zone countries because of this eurozone crisis there's a general feeling of a still be in the country a lot of people going out in protest we've also heard of stories of suicides in italy another hard hit country so if we're looking at the trend that's happening in europe we hope it does not continue but we could see

a lot more of expressions of dissatisfaction. and while jobless europeans are finding it increasingly hard to make ends meet their wealth is still being hit by financial woes of a different kind of extreme tax rates and secret she new citizens to flee to other countries that's just ahead. europe's tax is heading the wealthy many britons can't afford to go on holiday wages recent predictions for the nation's economy from optimistic that story and more after that. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew. i'm sorry welcome to the big picture.

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there's been a dramatic growth in the gap between rich and poor in the u.k. the start figures revealed by british think tank also warned that families are lucky to enjoy at least fifteen years of squeezed incomes into living standards recover to pre-crisis levels well she looks into what's behind the numbers. imagine living on the brink financially i need to be told that it's going to get was that's the reality facing some ten million brits living on middle incomes economists at the think tank the resolution foundation have issued a landmark report with a stock warning to the government they've got to tackle low wages or face economic stagnation for generations to come the report claims that for too many households their money no longer stretches to the bare essentials because a falling wages and rising inflation and buying a house is becoming a fantasy for too many britons already millions of citizens in the u.k.

struggle to pay their monthly bills have no savings in the bank and can no longer afford a family holiday so what we're seeing at the moment is the squeeze on living standards which is affecting households throughout the entire income distribution and that's mainly a result of the recession and austerity policies but actually for a very sizable group around about ten million adults middle income households actually started sometime before failing to do anything and just ended up with ten being households have no increase in that in their living standards in their innings first of all it's a social problem because it's a very large group to be in that situation but also it's an economic problem because because this group of consumers so they are one of the drivers of economic growth their report found that on top of the recession there are systemic problems with the way that the british economy is run making life even harder for britain's low to middle if things stay the same the average household by twenty twenty will have less money to spend than it did five years ago person is now so squeezed that

almost seven out of ten brits say that they have to cut back on spending just in order to get by but the governor of the bank of england saying that economic recovery could be in sight it looks like that for those at the bottom of the british ship. to me that's no guarantee that life is going to get any easier. when r.t. dot com we keep you updated with all the latest news and events here are some of the stories that we have today the middle east is drying up a new report shows that during a seven year period last as much water as is contained in the dead sea excessive well. the full story is that dot com. so wiki leaks founder julian assange has completed his first step towards the australian senate by submitting an application to enroll in elections despite still being holed up inside that i could see in london you have all the details on our website.

is to. be. taken to the streets of dresden to protest against. by far right extremists it marks the anniversary of the allied bombing of the city in eastern germany. from the european network against racism says the debt crisis is one of the reasons. strength across europe. extremely worrying phenomenon because

it is the mission is not only in germany but in other european countries as well there is an increasing popularity of these rights movements and even they are not really for instance obviously the economic crisis is exacerbate. tensions and due to loss of jobs exception but at the same time i mean it's been the neo nazi you know ribbons have been rising since before the economic crisis so it's really difficult to pinpoint one cause but what's really important is that governments and politicians really take you clear starts against the ideas promoted by. really promoting messages that unites instead of separate people a tax hikes are still the default plan for many nations trying to get out of debt while the super rich can flee to places that won't take such a hefty slice of their cash small businesses left behind say livelihoods are at

risk as artie's peter out of a found out he's a leading man of stage and screen however european heads of state will be hoping this year our debt by deal doesn't become the leader of a tax exodus but the super rich front lines decision to push through a seventy five percent top rate of tax on those earning over one million euros saw the actor up sticks and head to russia europe some of the highest rates of taxation in the world with many giving the lion's share of the things to the state of vermont feel the need can be a balancing act of course you want to run a successful business but if you make over a certain amount you find yourself paying out huge quantities of tax over fifty percent. there are warnings for europe that when compared to low tax countries like russia they could lose their competitive edge if they're a country with low taxes and with high taxes capital flow well to country with

a low tax and the same is true for people with talent there's always going to be people that think the taxes are too high but a growing number actually starting to think that it's becoming detrimental to the development of business but he can't owns a haulage company in munich currently he employs around ninety people transporting everything from the small to the big and bulky all over mainland europe he says that lowering the current rate of tax would not just make big changes to his business but also to the lives of his staff that's where not only can his. it would be super first i could pay higher salaries this is a very important issue right now due to the rise in the cost of living also i can invest more into the company and grow the business even employ more people everyone benefits something that isn't possible under the current tax system and that those in power argue that the problem in european countries right now is that taxpayers

want to have the best of both worlds big management of the phenomenon we face regarding taxes is that everyone wants to pay as little as possible however no one is willing to give up the services that those taxes go to pay for them with few signs of any major tax cuts on the horizon in year businesses like this one going to have to continue to struggle to bring home the bacon but it comes to saving fifty development peter all other r.t. . united nations human rights chief says the french military intervention in mali has made this situation in the country worse with fears that the west african nation will fall into a downward spiral of violence and there are concerns about ethnic reprisals killings in mali and forces accused of murdering suspected militants gonzalo one who's been traveling around the country throughout the conflict reports now for r.t. . so you got him money yes. the united nations already describes the situation in

mali as a disaster the u.n. human rights commission says the country's caught in a spiral of violence fraught with grievous consequences the situation has been made worse in the wake of ferocious fighting in and around the city of northern mali following four days of fierce resistance from insurgents complete with suicide attacks the french military has been forced to conclude that some of the locals maybe extremists. however some of the key areas in this conflict are still off limits to international journalists with the french army denying us passage saying it was for our own security the u.n. high commissioner for human rights not the palais made it plain in a recent statement that the situation in mali is only deteriorated following the foreign military intervention you know that the insurgency in mali is aggravated by ethnic clashes an artsy camera crew witnessed instances of vegs accuses him

brutalities perpetrated by the mali an army and survived. the military and not the only ones in gage's and hunting down people of arab or quarrel origin who are believed to be part of the insurgency and even the locals are going after them as well and for some time it has been difficult to find people from either of those ethnic groups anywhere in mali this brings us back to the fact that more than three hundred thirty thousand people have been forced to flee from their homes because of the crisis the last straw for all those refugees and indeed for all of mali has been a statement by al qaida coming out of the arabian peninsula which calls upon every muslim to join the holy war against france a war that is being fought in mali against the will of its people. mali are. media reports say qatar has handed the syrian embassy to the opposition the building has been closed for about a year off the gulf nations cease to recognize their sides ruling regime one of

syria's opposition leaders claims he's been appointed ambassador to qatar well syrian political activist. says qatar is trying to beef up the failing syrian national coalition. it's not an addition to the political weight of the syrian national coalition in my view this is a this is primarily a crime primarily to reinject some life into the syrian national coalition especially after the several blows that it received there since it's since it was formed we know that they want to. overthrow the regime they couldn't so far they wanted to achieve some liberated lands and more than in northern syria and they didn't so far and they also wanted to form a transitional government on syrian soil and they're meeting in the us it's the moon recently failed in doing so so i think i think this movement by by qatar

especially that qatar considers itself the main backer of the syrian national coalition because it was its own project so it's its science or mask and we inject some life into it after after the deficiencies that. in ukraine a passenger plane carrying about forty people most of them football fans has crash landed near the city of donetsk it's believed the aircraft which was on an internal flight missed the runway and overturned before bursting into flames the full scale of casualties isn't yet clear but indications at the moment suggest at least five people were killed with two still missing the cause of the crash landing is under investigation but more details as we get. more into that in brief for you now at least a dozen people have been injured in bangladesh's capital dhaka after police fired rubber bullets on protesters the crowd was demanding a halt to the trials of opposition leaders accused of war crimes in the nation's nine hundred seventy one war of independence more than one hundred people were

arrested witnesses reported that protesters attacked the vehicles and torched the bus similar route is left seven people dead last month. lease in bahrain of use tear gas and stun grenades to disperse hundreds of protesters in the country's capital really broke out on the eve of the two year anniversary of the uprising demonstrators marched in the streets carrying bahraini flags and chanting anti-government slogans accusing the ruling regime of corruption and human rights violations calling for the removal of the monarchy claiming it for the brutal crackdown on protesters. but coming up it's breaking it sets with host abby martin here a lot of stay with us. helicopters

flying through the air the night rounds of assault rifle more popping as the choppers buzz over the land now this unique form of hell of terror is no longer restricted to those in vietnam in the middle east now houston miami residents of the good old usa can get in on the fire. houston residents in terror called nine one one and scrambled for cover and even a school as part of a lockdown as a military helicopters participated in a multi-agency training for ill in miami at night in the middle of downtown onlookers caught in video on their telephones of blackhawk helicopters pumping loud blank on to the people below and maybe even as i speak a flexibly scheduled military drill could be happening in jesper county south carolina you know when i was a kid they tell us about how that year old soviet union would parade their tanks around how there were soldiers all over their oppressed country even in one thousand nine hundred four or will meet in a point to describe our military helicopters would eternally be overhead and

a dystopian nightmare world now we're living the nightmare the united states is a huge country there's plenty of room on remote army bases to do your training also last time i checked afghanistan evil which is don't look like downtown miami just who are you training to kill anyways knock off the terror trainings but that's just my opinion. to live on one hundred thirty three bucks a month for food i should try it because you know how fabulous. i mean. i guess i just really miss. very closely you. work for the food the silence of a good guy and the subject. what's cool about it

is you never seen anything like this until. six. shout i'm abby mine. so last night was the state of the union address which i'll get to later but perhaps the most entertaining part of the night was watching c.n.n. frantically try to cover both the address and the unfolding drama of the dorner manhunt and immediately following the speech wolf blitzer had this to say. the following some breaking news out of california right now we're going to get back to the president's state of the union address but authorities are now telling c.n.n. that the fugitive expo least the christopher dorner is dead and while there still is an official confirmation that he is in fact dead at the mo shocking part of all is how he may have died checking this out in the middle of a big bear for.